


Professional Considerations

by TwoCatsTailoring



Series: Meta Collection [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Gen, Meta Essay, Nonfiction, Shinra, archived from twocatstailoring blog, corporation orginization, the Turks - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 18:52:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16792711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoCatsTailoring/pseuds/TwoCatsTailoring
Summary: An pair of essays on the level of autonomy that the Turks are allowed to operate in, both perceived and real.





	1. Turks and Autonomy

**Author's Note:**

> Archived from twocatstailoring tumblr.

Okay, but there’s a place in the Compilation where the Turks are first referred to as a ‘subsidiary’ then as an 'affiliate’ of ShinRa. Both of those words, in the business sense, indicate a lesser body attached to or associated with, perhaps even under the jurisdiction of a greater one.

Now lets stop and think about what that could mean for just a minute.

However the TUrks came to be attached to ShinRa, they would still have, at some point, probably been an independent body, separate from ShinRa but also working along side it to help or supplement some function within the company. 

This would perhaps explain the fact that, particularly in Before Crisis, there is a great deal of autonomy that the Turks exercise within the company. Veld, easily the one who’s been around the longest, preaches obediance to orders and following the letter of the orders from the top down. 

However, just as he preaches it he is also willing to put those orders aside and do what is right as well. The family of Turks is clearly important to him, moreso (if based on his actions instead of his words) than the coorperation of ShinRa.

My theory is this: The Turks are running a very plain, simple game here. They 'work for Shinra’ but their loyalty is to themselves - or the loyalty of the older members is (Veld, Tseng, possibly Reno) as a unit. Turks come first, first, last, always. 

Think about their titles. The Investigative Sector of the General Affairs Department (alternatively, The Department of Administrative Research.) Those titles, if looked at properly, indicate something very important that I think gets overlooked in all the assassinations, kidnappings, explosions, and general mayhem.

Turks are Information Specialists. The methods they use to gain the information are what they become known for but it is the information itself that makes them highly dangerous individuals. They know things, they can find out things, they have files and information and facts about just about everything from just about everywhere.

Perhaps forgetting this is what sealed ShinRa Sr.’s fate as a very rotund corpse. Granted it is Sephiroth’s will that dealt the killing blow but I believe the simple fact that he forgot that the Turks were the people who knew things and could find, learn, hide, remove, warp, and cover up everything is what set him on the road to his own death.

In short, he exiled the very people who could have warned him. But before he did that, he alienated them, made them doubt his leadership, and pissed them off by firing Veld and nearly getting them all killed in Junon by appointing Heidegger as their leader. Heidegger who has no real understanding of the people he was dealing with even thought he was one of the highest ranking executives in ShinRa.

That seems to indicate that either Heidegger (or ShinRa Sr.) were both damned idiots or that the Turks were secretive even within their slef-imposed cage of loyalty to ShinRa.

Then, when they all head in to exile, they are unable to be found. Why? With all the firepower and intimidation that ShinRa could bring to bear on local populations who might be hiding the renegades, they were impossible to round up, except by Veld himself. Why do you suppose that was?

Because the people who have access to all manner of information are going to be able to blend, hide seamlessly in populations and not draw any level of suspicion to themselves even when they meet on the street or have coffee at the same shop every day.

So, what does this all boil down to? Personally, I think that the Turks, as a unit of operations, existed somewhere outside the true jurisdiction of ShinRa while exploiting the wealth and power of ShinRa to continue with their own agenda. What do I think that was?

Easy. Investigation, Research, Information. Because all the fire power in the world won’t win you anything if it is pointed in the wrong direction.


	2. What's In A Name?

I apologize in advance if this becomes rambly and cumbersome, but I’ve got to get this out of my head.
    
    
     General Affairs vs. Administrative Research.

I’ve long been torn by the use of both of these departmental titles in reference to the Turks because they mean such different things. And both are used at different times canonically in the Compilation. 

The Department of General Affairs sounds to me like it would encompass everything from internal security to facilities maintenance to the folks who make sure that there’s toilet paper in all of the bathrooms. It, in short, sounds like an internal department within ShinRa that deals only with ShinRa things at the various sites around the globe.

The Department of Administrative Research, on the other hand, sounds a little more all-encompassing. As if the members of this department could move around, their work concerns being both inside and outside the company.

Now, let me be fair here and as accurate as possible. ‘Turks’ is just a nickname. There is no canon evidence that it is anything except a nickname - not an acronym or anything, and even Hojo, in his missive about Vincent being locked in the basement, refers to him as a 'Turk.’ That indicates that the nickname has been in use for at least 30 years, and it is likely been longer than that, as such a thing doesn’t seem to be something that Hojo would use unless it was so pervasive that using any other title would be bothersome in terms of getting his point across. (Hojophiles can expound on this thought if they like.) It takes time for something like a name to build to that level, it is not an overnight thing.

Now, the hierarchy falls in such a way that both the Turks and SOLDIER fall under Heidegger’s Department of Public Safety. _Public_. This and the existence of the two divisions with very different purposes (Turks and SOLDIER) seems to indicate that perhaps the second (Department of Administrative Research) is a more apt department title for the Turks.
    
    
    Subsidiary

As [turktseng](http://tmblr.co/mk1TWk6CPU0bLPSOYiCKCcA) talked about over the weekend it would be logical to assume that there are two divisions within the Turks - those who have excelled at combat and are suited to active, external missions and those who’s specialty is the collection, distillation, and redistribution of information from all over the Planet. ShinRa has it’s fingers in everywhere it seems and that is a lot of ground to cover. Before Crisis alludes to there being Turks that even the Turks haven’t met, and Cissnei seems to be much more handy with information than she does with field work (even though her field work could very well be imparting information, but the motives for this would be her own and not ShinRa’s.)

Which leads me to having discovered an interesting word choice in one of the descriptions of how the Turks fit in to the grand scheme of ShinRa.

Used in reference to the actual physical location that the Turks work from, it is nevertheless interesting to term the Turks-only section of ShinRa Electric Power Company as a subsidiary of the greater ShinRa campus. Why would their home be considered a subsidiary (which, in simple terms, just means that it is a mostly independent holding of a larger company) and not the Turks themselves?

Personally, I think that there is a lot of hidden truth in the term subsidiary in reference to the Turks. It does appear that there is some merit in this idea, given that President ShinRa, Sr. gives directives and orders directly to _Veld_ even though technically the Turks fall under Heidegger’s Public Safety Department. 

The actions of the Turks in canon also seem to indicate that there is a considerable degree of autonomy within the Department of Administrative Research (which sounds like a bullshit title to me and always has as what Administration would need Researching at ShinRa? And they have an Internal Affairs department as well, so…?) Obvious case in point being Tseng spending years shielding Aerith from ShinRa and reporting repeated failures at capturing her but never getting fired for it. Also, the faked assassination of Veld in Before Crisis and the solo actions of the Turks in Case of ShinRa as they go looking for Rufus after Diamond Weapon attacks. From Veld giving Tseng orders to follow and berates him without question to Veld’s forgiveness and extremely lenient treatment of Legend to the fact that the Turks are capable and successful in dealing with the Remnants with Rufus unable to give direct orders to them for some time, the level at which the Turks are permitted to govern and police themselves and their actions seems to indicate that they are an independent (or at least semi-independent) unit within ShinRa. 

(I do not include the events of the OG as examples of autonomy as I think in OG they were acting on orders in every instance that we see them. Tseng, stressed and panicking after having _just months before_ faked Veld’s assassination and _just days prior_ having been found out by President ShinRa, Sr., has to take Aerith in to prove his loyalty. Once the President is dead and Rufus takes up office, the private missions of the Turks shift with the change in leadership. So while Rufus is 'ruling with fear’ he is also directing his Turks (who can work under the public radar) to make sure that the Strife Party gets where they need to be with the power necessary to do the job that only they can do.)

It is also interesting to note that given the assumed technology level and the fact that all of the Player Turks in Before Crisis scattered, living apart from one another after their exile, they certainly all came together quickly when they realized that they might be needed back in Midgar during Meteorfall. Why? How did that work? Had they kept their phones, it is reasonable to assume that they could have been tracked and if everyone you know suddenly has a new number, exchanging them could be impossible, especially if you can’t all be seen together at once. It is interesting to consider that perhaps there was some other method of communication between the Turks of Before Crisis that even ShinRa executives were unaware of.

But this has gotten long enough. 


End file.
